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Sunday, January 10, 2016

Seattle Schools This Week

Special Education PTSA meeting, 7-9 pm, JSCEE
Update on EEU situation among topics. District staff will be on hand to give updates and answer questions.

Tuesday, Jan. 12thSpecial Education Advisory and Advocacy Council Meeting, 5:30-7:30 pm, JSCEE 2765
Highlights of agenda include discussion of Sped issues(including restraint and isolation), CTE, annual report on Equitable Access and Instructional Philosphy. They will also be discussing what the committee's workplan and goals are for the year.

Transition Workshop for Sped Parents, 6-8 pm at Old Van Asselt building, 7201 Beacon Ave. S.This workshop will focus on helping families of children who receive Special Education Services to understand the Transition Process in developing vocational, social, and independent living skills so that they may transition to adult life as productive community members. We are providing this workshop in partnership with Open Doors for Multicultural Families.Saturday, Jan. 16th - Director Community meetingsDirector Geary - Montlake Library from 11 am-1 pmDirector Harris - SW Library from 3:00-4:30 pm

6 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I believe that there is a meeting of the Special Education PTSA tomorrow, MOnday, Jan 11th at 7:00 PM at JSCEE. Risers will be discussed, which should be interesting in light of the EEU Kindergarten upheaval. Can someone official confirm this - I might have the date wrong.....?

Thanks for posting the SEAAC (advisory council) information. I had assumed that this committee was either defunct or holding closed meetings for the past few years. Glad to hear the public can attend!!

* Committee calendar - Doesn't have a space for the annual report required by policy 2090, Program Evaluation and Assessment

* 2190SP (Advanced Learning) - The discussion is all about who gets the services when it should be about what services they get. This is particularly true when it comes to Spectrum/ALO in which the District has ceded authority over eligibility to the schools. The District needs to retain a role in quality control and accountability. The concern, and it is a legitimate one, is that the students in the program are served no differently than the students who are not in the program.

* MTSS - Aren't we in the fifth year of a three-year implementation plan with six years to go? What is the timetable?

* Program Evaluation - Where is the program evaluation of Spectrum that Shauna Heath promised to the Board and the public three years ago?

* Policy 2200 Equitable Access annual report - Why doesn't this report ever include what it is supposed to include: the rationale for program placement decisions. Why isn't the Middle College decision on here?

* Policy A01.00 Instructional Philosophy - Who cares? Is this policy enforceable? Why all of the talk about preparing students for life when there is no effort along those lines. All of the effort is around college and career readiness, which this policy defines as synonymous. Really? No difference between college and career readiness, and college readiness is also synonymous with life readiness?

Charlie, I'm curious as to why your comments are not equally applicable to HCC:

The discussion is all about who gets the services when it should be about what services they get. This is particularly true when it comes to Spectrum/ALO in which the District has ceded authority over eligibility to the schools. The District needs to retain a role in quality control and accountability.

Hasn't the district ceded just as much power to HCC schools? Aren't QC and accountability just as lacking in HCC?

@DisAPPointed,You're on track. While the District has retained authority to determine who is in the Highly Capable Cohort, they have ceded the authority to determine curriculum to the schools. And, as with Spectrum/ALO, the District has failed to fulfill any kind of quality control or accountability function.

I wrote about Spectrum/ALO because the procedure is all about who is in the program, but the District no longer determines that, so in the case of this program the procedure is about nothing at all.

With HCC there is another concern, which the District's absurd commitment to provide HC services in attendance area schools. Again, this is purportedly done without any curriculum, process, quality control, or accountability. They make the same claim for Spectrum/ALO students in attendance area schools, but given the fact that Spectrum is no different from non-Spectrum, that claim is more credible.

Education Acroynms

Advanced Learning - SPS' three-tier program for advanced learners. Made up of APP, Spectrum and ALOs. (Note: the name of the district program is "Advanced Learning Services and Programs" but these three programs fall under "Highly Capable Services" of AL Services and Programs.

ALO - Advanced Learning Opportunity, the third tier of SPS' Advanced Learning program

AP - Advanced Placement. A national program of college-level classes given in high schools.

APP - Accelerated Progress Program. One of the levels of the Advanced Learning Program. NOTE: the name of this program is now "HIGHLY CAPABLE COHORT." This change occurred in 2014.

ASB - Associated Student Body. High school leadership groups.

AYP - Adequate Yearly Progress. Part of NCLB.

BEX - Building Excellence. SPS' capital renovation/rebuilding program that is funded via the BEX levy. Every 3 years there is the Operations levy and either the BEX or BTA levies as those two levies rotate in six year cycles).

BLT - Building Leadership Team. Staff members at a school who meet regularly to discuss building issues.

BTA - Buildings, Technology, Academics. The major maintenance/other capital fund for SPS. Originally BTA was to cover major maintenance like HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning), roofs, waterlines, etc.) but now covers wide swaths of items like athletic fields, technology and funding academic needs.

CAICEE - Community Advisory Committee for Investing in Educational Excellence. Created by former Superintendent Manhas in 2008, to issue a report about reform recommendations for SPS.

CSIP - Continuous School Improvement Plan, the plan for improvement for each school as required by state law.

EOC - End of Course Assessments, given in math and science, required for high school graduationESEA - Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the federal law that governs education, includes the NCLB accountability provisions.

e-STEM or e-STEAM - STEM or STEAM curriculum with an environmental focus.

FACMAC - Facilities and Capacity Management Advisory Committee. A district committee comprises of an all-volunteer citizen group created in 2012 to help bring research and ideas to capacity management issues in the district.

FERPA - Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. A federal law that protects students' privacy

FRL - Free and reduced lunch.

FTE - Full Time Equivalent

FY - Fiscal Year

Highly Capable Services - NEW name (as of 2014) as umbrella name for these programs: Highly Capable Cohort (formerly APP), Spectrum and ALO (Advanced Learning Opportunities).

HSPE - High School Proficiency Exam, state assessment that replaced the WASL for 10th graders, required for graduation

HQT - Highly Qualified Teacher, a standard set by federal law

IA - Instructional Assistant

IB - International Baccalaureate program. An international program of advanced classes that can either be taken as stand alone or as part of an overall IB program.

IDEA - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The federal law that governs special education

MAP - Measures of Academic Progress. A computer-based adaptive assessment made by NWEA and originally purchased by the district for use as a district-wide formative assessment but now used for a wide variety of purposes.

MSP - Measurement of Student Progress, the state proficiency assessment that replaced the WASL for students in grades 1-8

MTSS - Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

NCLB - No Child Left Behind, a provision of the federal education law, ESEA, introduced during the George W. Bush administration